Our trade deficit increased by 10.1% in May as the value of our exports decreased and the value of our imports increased. The Census report on our international trade in goods and services for May indicated that our seasonally adjusted goods and services trade deficit rose by $3.8 billion (rounded) to $41.1 billion in May from a revised April deficit of $37.4 billion.
The May report Personal Income and Outlays from theBEA gives us nearly half the data that will go into 2nd quarter GDP, since it gives us 2 months of data on our personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which accounts for more than 2/3rds of GDP, and the PCE price index, which is used to adjust that personal spending data for inflation to give us the relative change in the output of goods and services that our spending indicated.
Seasonally adjusted retail sales rose 0.5% in May after retail sales for March and April were revised slightly higher.. The Advance Retail Sales Report for May (pdf) from the Census Bureau estimated that our seasonally adjusted retail and food services sales totaled $455.6 billion for the month, which was an increase of 0.5 percent (±0.5%)* from April's revised sales of $453.6 billion and 2.5 percent (±0.7%) above the adjusted sales of May of last year.
With the first Friday of the month, the Employment Situation Summary for May from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was obviously the most widely watched release of last week. But the week also saw the release of four reports for April that give us the lion's share of that month's contribution to 2nd quarter GDP, and in some cases suggest revisions to 1st quarter GDP.
Our trade deficit rose by 2.2% January, while the net value of both our exports and our imports decreased. The Census report on our international trade in goods and services for January indicated that our seasonally adjusted goods and services trade deficit rose by $1.0 billion to $45.7 billion in January from a December deficit which was revised from $43.4 billion to $44.7 billion
Our trade deficit fell by 5.0% November, after rising by a revised 5.0% in October, as the net value of both our exports and imports decreased. The Census report on our international trade in goods and services for November indicated that our seasonally adjusted goods and services trade deficit fell by $2.2 billion to $42.4 billion in November from a October deficit which was revised from $43.9 billion to $44.6 billion.
With its release of November construction spending data, the Census revised all its construction data going back to January 2005, and admitted a large "processing error" that had caused all residential construction data to be misstated in the interim.
Other than the employment report and the GDP report itself, the monthly report on Personal Income and Outlays from theBureau of Economic Analysis is probably the most important economic release we see monthly.
The consumer price index was flat in November as lower prices for food, energy and core goods offset higher prices for services. The Consumer Price Index Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that seasonally adjusted prices were unchanged in November after rising 0.2% in October and falling 0.2% in September.
The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index (PPI) for Total Final Demand unexpectedly increased by 0.3% in November as prices for finished wholesale goods fell by 0.1%, while margins of final services providers were 0.5% higher.
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